Friday, April 18, 2008

Every year when Secretary's Day rolls around, bosses across the nation buy their secretaries flowers, take them out to lunch, give them the afternoon off. Now, I have no problem with a boss saying thank you or giving some small token for a job well done but this has spiralled into a Valentine's Day-esque, Hallmark-driven cycle of guilt and gifts. The secretaries whine about how they work so hard and do so much and the bosses come across with the gifts to shut them up. No wonder some guys call their secretaries their "work wives."

If I recall correctly, secretaries do get a paycheck. You work, you get a paycheck - that is your reward. Anything other than that should be considered to be the extra special icing on your already tasty cake, but God help any boss that doesn't remember Secretary's Day - they're doomed to suffer a year's worth of "accidental" misfiling and snarky eyerolling until it's gift-giving time again and they have the chance to redeem themselves.

This year Secretary's Day is next week, on April 23...but did you know that there was another "National Day of Recognition" just three days ago? April 15 was National Library Workers Day.

(I'm sure the greeting card is in the mail, right?)

And, hey, just the day before, on the 14th, I decided to give one of my patrons a gift. She said to me, after I had just helped her with multiple reference questions requiring me to run around the library, "Gee. And here I thought lieberrians didn't do anything. I thought you just sat around and collected a paycheck."

I believe you need a few beers. Let's not forget that the library system you work for is on a city full of amazingly stupid people, lazy fools, and other assorted morons who think reading is a chore.

I saw a news piece the other day about a 70 year old man enrolled in first grade. He's so happy he can read for the first time, he was crying. Let the fools learn what true pain is when they can't sign the paycheck they collect.

I always thought that Google wanted to be a librarian when it grew up. If you are expecting to be payed what you are worth you are doomed to disappointment, there isn't enough money. The best that I can afford is gratitude and respect.